Contents

In 1862, Liberia College was founded with the national legislature creating the University of Liberia in 1951.[1] In addition to the transition to a university, the legislature created the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law and Government that same year at the university.[2] In 1954, the law school began offering classes.[2]Joseph Rudolph Grimes founded the school, named it after his father Louis Arthur Grimes, and served as the law school's first dean.[3]

In 1956, Anthony Barclay succeeded Grimes as dean and remained until 1961 when the school closed after conferring a total of 21 degrees.[4] In September of the next year the school re-opened with former Attorney General Joseph W. Garber as the dean and enrollment of 20 students.[4] For 1963 the school employed two full-time instructors and six part-time faculty for a program that held only afternoon and evening classes.[4] At that time the law school was housed in J. J. Roberts Hall, tuition was $27 per term, and the library contained approximately 500 volumes.[4] The Liberian Law Journal, a law review journal, began at the school in 1965.[5]

By 1966 the law school had grown to 49 students enrolled in either the full-time or part-time programs with a department of 13 faculty members overseeing the students and the publication of the twice yearly Liberian Law Journal.[2] About half the professors were visiting professors, including some from the Peace Corps.[2] The law journal temporarily stopped publication from 1970 to 1974, resumed for a few editions, and then paused again until a final publication in 1986 with a total of eight volumes printed.[6]

The School of Law has a course of study that leads to the Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) degree after three years of specialization by students at the university.[12] Like the juris doctorate (JD), the LL.B. requires the completion of an undergraduate degree, which is legal study similar to the JD. Grimes School of Law also offers a part-time evening program that encompasses five years of study.[13]